


Ab Aeterno

by painted_lady12



Series: Across Time and Space [3]
Category: Yuri!!! on Ice (Anime)
Genre: Afterlife, Alternate Universe - Afterlife, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Bisexual Male Character, Character's Name Spelled as Viktor, Death, Dreams, Dreamsharing, Falling In Love, Gay Male Character, Getting Together, Grief/Mourning, Heavy Angst, Implied/Referenced Self-Harm, Love, M/M, Male Homosexuality, Narrator is Viktuuri's Kid, Suicide
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-18
Updated: 2018-08-26
Packaged: 2019-06-12 06:05:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 3
Words: 9,589
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15333450
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/painted_lady12/pseuds/painted_lady12
Summary: Across all of the known universes, a group of wraiths is in charge of keeping the multiverse intact.  Ava, a young girl who dies of an overdose, is asked to join their ranks.  Her task?  To go to alternate realities and get her parents together in as many of them as possible.  Shouldn't be too hard when they're none other than Yuuri Katsuki and Viktor Nikiforov, right?





	1. There Were a Million Chances

**Author's Note:**

> Ab Aeterno- a term meaning, quite literally, "from outside of time"
> 
> It's been a while, hasn't it?
> 
> Anyway, I was looking through my AO3 folder and found that I finished this trilogy? I just never posted the last one? So I figured that I might as well put it into the world after some careful revising and editing.
> 
> If you haven't read the first two parts of this series, you're going to be hella confused. The concept is convoluted enough as it is, but basically just imagine that for whatever reason, the universe wants to make it so that Yuuri and Viktor get together in order to keep the multiverse itself from falling apart.
> 
> Extra warning*** this fic gets dark sometimes. If anything in this fic makes you feel some type of way, please reach out to a loved one or a professional (or both). Feel free to step back and give yourself some breathing room. My intention is never to harm you, so if you feel like this is doing so, don't hesitate to stop and take the space you need.
> 
> Also, for all my YOI readers, it's been a little while<3 I've been vacationing over in Voltron while I'm working through some personal issues. I'm planning on coming back around and picking up "Every Thread of Gold" at some point soon, so hopefully this can tide you over until then.
> 
> As usual, I do not own Yuri! on Ice

Ava shook violently in the cold of the warehouse that she was squatting in.  Her friends were all strung out around her, littering the floor and the boxes stacked up high, mumbling incoherently to themselves.

 

Skin and bones, her sweater falling down her shoulder, she stumbled over to their stash and popped three more pills, hoping that it would make the pain go away…

 

Her life flashed before her eyes.  Her long, curly hair fell around her like a pillow as she re-lived so many memories…

 

...of growing up with her mother, always on something new, of having to pick her up from so many bad trips, of going from shitty apartment to shitty apartment.  

 

...of her father abandoning them, making her feel well and truly alone.

 

...of having enough of watching her mother suffer, and eyeing the drugs herself with wide eyes.  

 

It seemed like a simple escape, until she ran into money problems.  Now she was on the run, hiding in whichever drug den she could crawl into.

 

Shaking hands fumbled for more pills.  She had to make the bad thoughts go away.  They were crowding her, making it impossible to breathe…

 

...oh, wait, no, that wasn’t the thoughts, she  _ actually couldn’t breathe… _

 

She hovered above her body momentarily, blinking frantically, screaming for someone to save her.  But she couldn’t see any of the other people, she could only see her body slumped over, vomit in a puddle next to her, eyes glazed over and glassy…

 

Suddenly someone came up from behind her.  She felt their presence, and she asked shakily, “Am I dead?”

 

“Yes,” they said softly, and she turned around, a woman standing there with long black hair and golden irises.  She was wearing a long, sweeping gold dress that billowed around her as she walked towards Ava.

 

“Who are you?”

 

“I’m here with a proposition.”

 

Ava shook, fingers itching to find something to take the edge off…

 

The woman eyes the twitching fingers.  “There are no drugs in the afterlife. You’re going to have to go cold turkey, here.”

 

Frustrated, Ava kneeled over her body to shake herself awake, but her fingers slid through it like she was made of smoke.

 

“That’s not an option, anymore.  You can’t go back.”

 

“No.  I won’t help you.  Put me  _ back!”  _  her voice was shaking, tears streaming down her cheeks, “I didn’t do anything yet!  There’s so much that I didn’t get to do! I still haven’t fallen in love, I never went to college, there wasn’t enough time…”

 

The woman sighed, rubbing her temples.  “I’m going to let you think on it.”

 

She snapped her fingers and they appeared in a small, comfortable apartment.  Two cats greeted Ava, who knelt down in her too-big sweater and combat boots.

 

The golden-eyed woman was gone, and she was left to her own devices.

  
  


***

  
  


The first time she really accepted that she was dead was when she pressed a knife into her skin, and the wound knitted itself back up the second she pulled the knife away.

 

When she tried to jump out the apartment window into the abyss, she was thrown unceremoniously back into the apartment she was confined to.

 

Eventually, she just sat on the couch with the cats, staring at the ceiling, lost.  

 

After a few days, the woman came back and watched her with a knowing smile on her perfectly peach painted lips.

 

“Are you ready to hear my proposal?”

 

Ava winced, shoving Tubsy off her lap.  “Do I have a choice?”

 

Mhysa the cat snuggled against Ava’s bare leg, tail curling against the skin.

 

The woman snapped, and they were in a house.

 

“Where are we?” Ava asked, looking at the tall ceilings and the wall-length windows.  The people who lived here had to be well off, because the house was beautiful.

 

There was a trophy case on the wall, with pictures of two people ice skating, and dozens of medals and trophies…

 

“Darling, you’re going to be late!” came a male voice

 

Ava turned around and frowned, seeing…

 

...herself.

 

Her hair was shorter and curlier.  She had a body with more meat on her bones, as opposed to the 98 pounds of dead Ava that she had been in life.  Her cheeks were pinchable, they had color, and she looked so healthy…

 

“Papa, I’m fine.  Daddy already packed me lunch.”

 

An older man with silver hair and wide, proud blue eyes watched the real-world Ava thoughtfully.  “Alright, give papa a hug. It’s your first day of your last year of high school. I’m allowed to be a little emotional.”

 

Real Ava launched forward and caught the man in a hug, looking extremely happy and full and loved.

 

“What the hell is this?” dead Ava hissed, shaking in her boots.

 

“This is your life.  This is what awaits you in most alternate realities.  That is your father. And…”

 

Another man appeared in the large living space, slightly shorter with dark hair and a dancer’s body, holding a lunchbox.

 

“Text us after school so we know that you made it to practice safe,” the dark-haired man said softly, pressing a kiss to her head.

 

“I don’t get it,” dead Ava rumbled, circling the two men with narrow eyes as her alternate self ran out the door.

 

“These are your parents.  In most realities, anyway.  In most worlds, these two men adopt you, and raise you up with love and support.  In most realities, your mother puts you up for adoption. Unfortunately, you drew the short straw.”

 

Tears formed in Ava’s eyes as she looked up into the faces of the two men, who were watching their daughter go with every emotion flashing in their eyes…

 

“I am a wraith.  My job is to create unifying points in the timeline.  In about twenty percent of realities, these two men are together.  Which puts them highest on the list, making your job a lot easier.”

 

Her long, straight black hair was pushed behind her shoulder as Ava looked at her with confusion.

 

“Basically, our job is to keep the multiverse tied together.  It’s a whole lot of scientific mumbo-jumbo, and since you dropped out of school at fifteen you’re very unlikely to understand…” Ava looked mutinous at that, baring her teeth, “It means that certain things need to be consistent across every timeline.  We decided to make one of those unifying points this couple. Your job will be to bring them together in as many realities as you can.”

 

Ava reached out to touch the man with silver hair, but her hand went right through him.

 

“What are their names?”

 

“Viktor Nikiforov and Yuuri Katsuki.”

  
  


***

  
  


Wraith Ava found herself sitting in that same living room quite a lot in her first few days as a golden-eyed spirit.  

 

Watching the three of them play scrabble, or watch stupid movies.  Sometimes other people would stop by their little house in Fukuoka.  There was an angry blonde man also named Yuri and his husband Otabek.  There was real Ava’s aunt Mari, and her grandparents Hiroko and Toshiya.

 

Real Ava was a talented violinist.  She won competitions with her skills, and Yuuri and Viktor were skating coaches in their free time.

 

Apparently, they were pretty famous in their day.

 

Eventually the woman with golden eyes came to get her, and she went begrudgingly with her to their first assignment.

 

“This universe is a fun one,” the wraith woman said happily as they stood in a small concert hall.  

 

Viktor was behind a piano, and Yuuri was playing a violin with rapt attention, the two of them performing at a competition.

 

“In this universe, the two of them were very famous classical musicians, and were scouted to do a duet for a charity concert.  They’ve been practicing together for a few weeks, but haven’t moved on to become lovers, yet.”

 

Ava frowned at them thoughtfully, running her fingers through her strawberry blonde hair.  “What am I supposed to do?”

 

“Make them fall in love,” the woman said, watching the performance with excitement.

 

Scoffing, Ava punched at a member of the audience, her hand going through their head.  “I can’t change anything here, remember? I’m dead.”

 

The wraith woman smiled devilishly.  “Just because you can’t touch them doesn’t mean you can’t nudge them towards each other.”

  
  


***

  
  


Ava stood over Viktor, drunk and passed out in his bed with his suit still on, and gently touched his forehead…

 

...she felt this awful sucking sensation, and suddenly she was inside a concert hall in his head.  Viktor was playing a song soulfully on the piano, a mournful tune, and he was humming along, face extremely serene.

 

Ava started clapping, and Viktor looked up at her suddenly, eyes wide.

 

“Who are you?”

 

The girl stood up, and pointed her thin finger at him.  “I’m supposed to make you fall in love with your duet partner.”

 

Blinking rapidly, Viktor said.  “Who, Yuuri? We were just playing together for the charity.  Besides, I don’t even know if he’s…”

 

“He’s gay,” Ava cut him off, patience running thin.  “Just like… go kiss him or something?”

 

Viktor laughed, getting up from the piano bench and staring down at Ava, standing in the aisle.

 

“This isn’t funny,” she muttered, frustrated, “If you two don’t get together I don’t get parents.”

 

The Russian stared down at her in awe.  “I’m… your papa?”

 

The closeness to the name grated on Ava’s nerves, and she sighed.  “Eventually, yes, that is the case.”

 

“Oh, that is great!  I always wanted a daughter,” he hopped down to walk towards her, bright blue eyes filled with excitement, coattails trailing behind him.

 

Ava backed up as he approached, shaking a little bit.  “I… I need you to get together with Yuuri. You two are supposed to be my parents.”

 

Suddenly, Viktor looked alarmed, and blinked out of existence.  Ava sighed, snapping her fingers, and she was back in Viktor’s hotel room, watching him stir from his slumber.

 

When Viktor opened his eyes, he looked right through Ava and then down at his outfit, groaning.

 

Ava looked away as he got dressed, then followed him out into the lobby, where he marched up to Yuuri, determined.

 

“Yuuri, I…”

 

The dark-haired Japanese man turned around hopefully, adjusting his glasses and hiking his violin case up on his shoulder.  “Yes, Viktor?”

 

“...almost forgot to give you my number in case we wanted to do another duet.”

 

Yuuri’s face fell, taking out his phone and fumbling to hand it over to Viktor.

 

“They don’t remember the dreams,” the other wraith appeared behind Ava then, and the young girl rolled her golden eyes.

 

“Figures.  How am I supposed to make them fall in love if they don’t remember?”

 

The other wraith woman watched Yuuri and Viktor type each other’s numbers into their phones.

 

“We leave… traces.”

 

Viktor suddenly handed back Yuuri’s phone, and when the Japanese man got the phone back, his chocolate brown eyes widened, face reddening.

 

“You… I… Viktor, you wrote ‘Viktor Katsuki-Nikirorov’ as your contact name.”

 

Viktor’s eyes blew open wide, and he snatched the phone back, looking a little shaken up, but he recovered quickly, clearing his throat.  

 

“So I did…” he quickly tried to salvage the situation, “...was that a bad way to segway into asking you out?”

 

The shorter man stood there, stunned, before suddenly his face broke out into an adorable grin, smiled shining up at Viktor with affection.

 

“I’d love to get dinner with you, Viktor.”

 

A gold shimmer appeared around them, and Ava felt it vibrate within her as well.

 

“That means it worked, right?” Ava questioned the other wraith, and the older woman nodded.

 

“That means that you’ve set them on the right path to be together and adopt you.  The rest is up to them.”

 

Ava watched Viktor and Yuuri wander off, leaving their luggage at the front desk, fingers winding together under the bright chandelier of the hotel lobby.

 

An empty hole of sadness threatened to swallow Ava then, and she swore that for a second, her shimmering, gold glitter turned to ash.

 

It was only for a second, though, before she moved on.

 

She appeared in her apartment, which now had a humongous adjoining room where millions of golden lights floated around.  Her cats purred affectionately as she passed around the lights, selecting her next target. A few of the orbs were shining more vibrantly, and had gold glitter falling out of them like snow.

 

Those were the ones that Viktor and Yuuri were already together.  Only about ⅕ of them were currently sparkling.

 

If Ava had anything to say about it, all of them would glitter and sparkle before she was done.

  
  


***

  
  


Ava was balancing on the bar above a swing set, watching Viktor swing a small child.

 

His name was Michael.  Viktor’s wife, Stephanie, was watching them both with excitement in her eyes.

 

Ava sighed, torn.  Her job was to get Viktor and Yuuri together, but in this universe, Viktor was with someone else.  On all accounts, he was very happy. He had to quit skating at twenty-two, sure, but he loved his son, and he… liked… his wife.

 

“What am I supposed to do with you, papa?” Ava sighed, hopping down from the swingset and watching Viktor lift his gurgling son out of the baby seat, cooing lovingly.

 

This Viktor lived in London, where his wife was from.  They met at nineteen at a competition; she was an ice dancer, he was an ice skater.  They had a few trysts, and at twenty-two Viktor knocked her up.

 

They married out of obligation, and lived together in the rainy city.

 

Yuuri Katsuki was visiting London with Phichit.  He still became a skater because Viktor stayed in skating long enough to inspire him, but was still bitter at the older man for leaving the senior division before he was able to compete with him in the Grand Prix Final.

 

Phichit and Yuuri were at a park only a few blocks away.

 

This is the closest that they will get, ever in their lives.  If there was a time to bring them together, it would be now.

 

Except, Ava was very sure that this would be a bad idea.

 

The older woman wraith appeared behind her.

 

“Tatiana,” Ava muttered darkly, “Hovering, again?”   
  


Tatiana grimaced.  “I’d like to remind you why we do what we do.”

 

They appeared back in Ava’s apartment, and Ava gasped to see that a few of the orbs were shriveling up into black ash, disintegrating into the air.

 

“No…” she whispered, and Tatiana looked grim.

 

“Your job is to stabilize the multiverse by creating a unifying point in getting together your parents.  If you don’t, the multiverse will de-stabilize. Entire universes gone in a flash. This was the work of a phantom,” Tatiana pinched the dust between her fingers, eyeing the black substance warily.

 

“Which phantom?” Ava whispered, watching another of the orbs start to lose it’s golden lustre.

 

“We’ll put someone on it.  You just keep on the universe you were working on.  Aren’t a few broken hearts worth billions upon billions of lives?”

 

Ava appeared back in the park, and followed Viktor home.

 

When he fell asleep that night, before his wife ever got to bed, she created an ice rink in his mind, and linked his mind to Yuuri’s.

 

It was a trick that she’d picked up from her many years as a wraith.  Viktor started skating immediately, a program wound in his limbs already, before Yuuri appeared a few seconds later, having fallen asleep in his hotel room.

 

“...Viktor?” the Japanese man whispered, eyes widening.

 

Viktor stopped skating, looking at the Japanese man with interest. 

 

“Yuuri Katsuki.  You won the Grand Prix Final last year,” Viktor said brightly, eyes lighting up with recognition.  “Your skating was beautiful.”

 

Blushing all the way down to his toes, his fingers curled into fists. 

 

“I wanted my program to beat your record, but it didn’t.  I thought it would make you come back.”

 

Sighing, Viktor visibly shrank, skating loops around the rink.  “I have a family. Ice skating is too much travelling and training for me to help raise my son.”

 

Yuuri Katsuki brushed back his long hair, skating towards Viktor with determination in his eyes, shoulders squared.

 

“I spent my whole youth copying you.  Skating is your life. You can’t tell me that you’re happy without it.”

 

Viktor wouldn’t make eye contact with Yuuri, only confirming the Japanese man’s theory.

 

Ava was perched on the stands, and neither of them had noticed her presence yet.  Finally, in that moment, she stood up, waving her hands so that she was wearing skates too, and took the ice.

 

Both men looked at her, awed.

 

“Who… who are…”

 

“Cupid!” she exclaimed, smiling falsely.  “You two are destined to be together.”

 

Viktor glanced at Yuuri, and Yuuri looked sheepish.  “Wait, that’s not what…”

 

Coughing, Viktor scratched his head.  “I’m married…”

 

“Sure you are.  You both are about to get up, and forget this meeting, but you won’t be able to get the idea out of your heads that you want to go to the park just outside of Cool Beans, the cafe you went to today, Yuuri.”

 

Eyes widening into saucers, Yuuri spluttered, “What do you…”

 

“WAKE UP!”

 

The two of them disappeared, leaving her on the ice alone.

  
  


***

  
  


Thirty minutes later, scarf wrapped around Viktor’s face, he paced around the park.  He couldn’t sleep, and needed to get a walk to clear his head.

 

Or, so he thought…

 

Until Yuuri Katsuki also couldn’t sleep, and appeared in the same park, spotting Viktor and going pale as a ghost.

 

“Viktor… Nikiforov?”

 

Viktor glanced up, the streetlight illuminating his silver hair to look almost gold.  The chilly air bit at their faces.

 

“You’re Yuuri Katsuki,” Viktor said softly, smiling.  “What are the odds?”

 

Yuuri wandered towards him like he couldn’t quite believe his eyes.

 

“You… you left skating…” Yuuri accused, suddenly livid.  “You left before I could compete with you!”

 

Viktor’s face went slack with surprise, and he bit back, “I broke every record!  My career had nowhere else to go. I left so that new skaters like you could take the ice.”

 

“Bullshit,” Yuuri accused, face full of contempt.  “You left because you knocked up your sort-of girlfriend.”

 

Laughing darkly, Viktor muttered, “What do you know about my marriage?”

 

“I know that you don’t love her,” Yuuri spat, but realized what he said too late and covered his mouth, gasping.  “I’m so sorry. That isn’t my place. Let me just go...” 

 

Sighing, Viktor kicked a pebble by his feet as Yuuri turned to run.

 

“Wait…” the Russian sighed, looking up at the sky in defeat.  “... don’t go. You’re right.”

 

Yuuri turned around, looking a little nauseous.  “I’m what?”

 

Shrugging, Viktor put his hand out with his silver wedding ring on it, staring at the dull shine compared to the stars.

 

“No one has spoken so candidly with me since I stopped talking to Chris.  Honesty can be nice.”

 

Hesitantly, Yuuri got a little closer to Viktor, stuffing his hands in his pockets.  “You can come back, you know.”

 

Laughter danced between them, awkward, unsure laughter.

 

“It’s been two years.  I can’t just pick back up where I left off.”

 

“You could if you had a good coach.  Yakov would take you back in a second.”

 

Viktor’s face suddenly lit up with an idea.

 

“What… what if you were my coach?”

 

Gaping, Yuuri shook his head.  “No, no! I can’t be your coach and compete.  That would be too much…”

 

“You’re right,” Viktor agreed, rubbing his chin.  

 

They sat in silence for a few moments before Viktor whispered, “I have to leave her, don’t I?”   
  


Nodding, Yuuri looked at him with pity.  “You don’t love her. It’s only fair.”

 

“What about Michael?  I can’t just abandon him.”

 

Rolling his eyes, Yuuri muttered, “You always were dramatic.  There is such a thing as joint custody, you know.”

 

Ava watched on from her perch on the swingset, smiling.

 

She could leave this pot to stew for a little while and come back to it.

 

She appeared back in her apartment and looked up at her arrangement of golden orbs.

 

The one that had been shriveling when she left was looking rather grey, but not necessarily worse, and she swallowed loudly. 

 

Touching her finger to the surface, she fell face-first through the surface and into a battle.

 

It was a phantom.

 

The phantom was snarling and shooting shadows all around him, tearing up the reality.  People were screaming, and three wraiths were holding gelatinous containers in their hands, ready to strike.

 

Ava stood far back, watching in fear as…

 

… phantom Yuuri Katsuki sent his shadows out, causing a thunderstorm to appear above them, and Ava felt the very fabric of the reality shake beneath her feet.


	2. Won't Let Go

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ava continues to learn about wraiths and phantoms and tries her best to sort through her new job

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello loves<3 
> 
> Part two, as promised.
> 
> Part three just needs some minor adjustments and will be out soon<3

Tatiana appeared next to Ava, livid.  The young girl’s curls were being whipped around her, golden glitter flying around her in the storm.

 

“Ava, what the  _ hell _ are you doing here?  I said we had it handled.”

 

“What happened?” Ava screamed, as the ground beneath them cracked open.

 

Tatiana sighed.  “In this reality, Yuuri died, and Viktor lived.  Yuuri was angry, and caught sight of a wraith while his spirit was still in this plane.”

 

“That’s how phantoms are made?  From angry spirits that see a wraith?”

 

Tatiana grimaced.  “It’s a bit more complicated than that.  Spirits can’t stay in the astral plane without something to latch onto for more than a few seconds. Most of them move on to the afterlife.  Some stick around. If they see a wraith, they’re able to latch onto our astral signature, and then they only have two choices after that: become a wraith, or become a phantom.  We didn’t get to him in time to make him a wraith, so...”

 

The sky split with lightning, and a building near them collapsed.  Ava felt the pulse of the reality tear through her.

 

“Can I calm him down?” Ava screamed, and Tatiana shook her head.

 

“Once a spirit fully becomes a phantom there’s no going back.”

 

Ava watched the man who was supposed to be her father get surrounded by the wraiths, and one of them managed to wrestle him to the ground, and another pressed the gelatinous cube to Yuuri’s chest, and he disappeared into the cube, turning it black.

 

The wraith threw the cube up into the air, looking rather pleased with himself.

 

They disappeared and reappeared back in Ava’s apartment, and the wraith who captured him handed the cube to Ava.  “Here, it’s one of yours, right?”

 

Ava’s fingers shook as she felt the now solid surface of the black cube, that could fit in the palm of her hand.

 

“This… this is how you capture a phantom?”

 

Looking up at the golden orb they just disappeared from, Ava visibly paled as it disintegrated.

 

“We… we couldn’t save it…” she felt tears fall down her cheeks as she fell to her knees.

 

She lost four of the versions of her parents that she was tasked to protect, that day.

 

“We cut the phantom off before he could get into any of the other realities. It’s like a virus.  Once a phantom destroys a reality, it moves onto a new one. This phantom was the one that destroyed the other three.  That’s what would have happened to this whole room if he wasn’t stopped.”

 

Shaking, Ava whispered angrily, “Get out.”

 

The other wraiths disappeared as Ava clutched the cube to her chest, screaming into the open air.

 

Tubsy the cat rubbed against her, purring comfortingly, and Ava whispered in the empty room.

 

“I’m sorry, daddy.  Please forgive me.”

  
  


***

  
  


Ava, a little worse for wear, watched as Viktor  paced the room, his wife on her knees in the middle of the hardwood.

 

“You can’t leave me…” she sobbed, clutching onto his pants, “Please, you’re my everything.”

 

Viktor sighed.  Michael was asleep in the other room.  “Our marriage isn’t good for either of us, Faith.  We were both just playing house.”

 

“It’s that other skater, isn’t it?”

 

Bright blue eyes stared at Faith with confusion.  “How do you…”

 

“I saw your texts with him about you going back to skating.  You’re having an affair with him, aren’t you?”

 

Ava sat on their kitchen table, wincing at the comment.  She knew for a fact that Yuuri and Viktor hadn’t done much more than discuss Viktor returning to skating, and though some of the texts were a little more than friendly, they hadn’t touched each other yet.

 

“Please, Vitya, don’t do this…”

 

Gently, he pulled her to her feet and embraced the woman tightly. 

 

“I’ll always love you, Faith, but I need to do this.  Skating is everything to me. I’m not done with it yet.”

 

Viktor grabbed his bags and left, leaving Faith shaking like a leaf in his wake.

  
  


***

  
  


A few months later, Ava returned to that reality, and Viktor was about to go onto the ice of the short program of Skate America.  Yuuri Katsuki had just gotten off the ice, and he was watching Viktor with rapt attention.

 

As they passed each other, they hugged quickly, their friendship having been maintained over skype in the last few months.

 

Ava skated around after Viktor, following his routine by heart, the routine about redemption, and finding yourself again.  It was heartwarming and tragic. There wasn’t a single dry eye in the audience by time he was done.

 

His score came out, and it was only two points above Yuuri Katsuki’s.

 

They ran into each other behind the scenes, and Ava watched them with interest.

 

“You know that now that you’re back my motivation is back.  I’m going to crush you tomorrow,” Yuuri asserted, though his face revealed that he was extremely nervous.

 

Viktor leaned forward and caught Yuuri’s face, looking at him with something akin to lust.  “Are you going to defeat me, Yuuri? Your Eros performance couldn’t quite measure up.”

 

Scathed, Yuuri backed up a few feet, face bright red.  “I… I’ll beat you tomorrow! You’ll see!”

 

Ava was waiting for the golden sparkles, but they still weren’t coming.

 

Sighing, she went back to her apartment and appeared back into the reality she liked most, where her alternate self lived with her parents in their beautiful home in Fukuoka.  

 

Ava was doing her homework, and Yuuri had fallen asleep on the couch.

 

Viktor poked Ava’s arm affectionately.  “Where are the markers?”

 

Real Ava grinned devilishly, bright blue eyes lighting up, whipping out a sharpie from her pencil case.  “Mustache or angry brows?”

 

Chuckling, Viktor whispered, “he’s probably tired enough for both.”

  
  


***

  
  


Ava sat in her own afterlife apartment, Tubsy and Mhysa curled up on her lap.  A golden orb floated in front of her television, and she sighed, pointing at it and moving it out of the way of her Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

 

That was the one good thing about wraith life: unlimited realities have an unlimited amount of television.

 

When she looked over at the reality she had been working on, it still wasn’t sparkling.

 

Sighing, she hopped into it, and instantly regretted it.

 

It was the evening after the free skate of the Grand Prix Final, and Yuuri and Viktor were tangled together on the bed, Viktor making Yuuri scream out in ecstasy.

 

“Oh, god, my eyes, this has to be child abuse…” she moaned, popping back out of the reality and retching a little bit at the whispered  _ “ahhh Viktor just like that…” _

 

Shivering, she had an idea, and pulled a sharpie out of thin air, marking it as reality S-M-145.

 

She spent the entire evening like that, labeling each of the realities that she had already visited, S for “skate” realities, N for “non-skate” realities.  The “M” stood for both male parents, the others being “M/F, F, or O” for other. 

 

Sometimes Viktor or Yuuri was transgender or gender fluid, and she wanted to be able to categorize them correctly.  It didn’t take too much extra effort, really.

 

The number meant the order she visited them.

 

Some realities existed that one or both of them were dead.  She labelled those with an “x”

 

She labelled N-M-121-X and remembered the reality with a grimace.  In this one, Viktor had died, and Yuuri had never gotten the chance to meet him.  She was so close to getting them together, but they kept missing each other. When she left that reality, she felt so defeated.

 

It took her the equivalent of three days, but finally she’d labelled all the realities that she’d visited, and looked interestedly at one of the many reality orbs she hadn’t visited.

 

Curious, she fell into it, and into…

 

“Oh.”

 

Ava learned quickly that time had no meaning in these realities.  If she didn’t choose a specific date, the orb would drop her off around the time that she would be most likely to get them together.  

 

Right now, she was standing in a hospital room, and Viktor was laying in the bed, comatose.

 

“No…” she whispered, walking to the nurse taking notes over his bed and glancing at his information.

 

He’d gotten a traumatic brain injury while in practice.  Ava was suddenly overcome with rage.

 

“What am I supposed to do about this shit?!” she yelled, though she knew no one around her could hear her.

 

Sighing, she touched her finger to Viktor’s head, and was sucked into his dream.

 

Blinking, she looked around, and she was in the St. Petersburg practice rink.  Viktor was doing quads, launching into them with almost no effort.

 

“Viktor Nikiforov?”

 

The silver-haired man paused, turning around abruptly and blinking at Ava.

 

“Who are you?”   
  


“A friend,” she said simply, a little unsure how to proceed.  “Do… have you ever met Katsuki Yuuri?”

 

Viktor thought back, contemplating.  This Viktor’s hair was cut very short, and it made him look extremely edgy.

 

It was fitting for the Viktor with the most tragic backstory.

 

“He… oh, Yuuri!” his face lit up, “He begged me to be his coach!”

 

_ Okay, so Yuuri danced with him at the banquet, but Viktor was injured in practice before he saw the Stay Close to Me routine. _

 

Her Viktuuri knowledge was virtually unrivaled.  

 

They were her parents, after all.

 

How was this Viktor supposed to raise Ava?  How were Yuuri and him supposed to adopt Ava if Viktor was comatose?

 

Sighing, Ava skated around with Viktor for a little while, copying his moves as she considered how to proceed.

 

“You’re very talented,” he complimented her, “Tighten up your arms when you’re doing the quad sal.  It’s impeding your rotations.”

 

Ava smiled, following his instructions.  He gasped in excitement at her improvement.

 

“Perfect!  You know, I don’t get many visitors,” Viktor beamed at her.  “You could always come back!”

 

There was a tug in her gut that was almost painful.  She saw it, then. That Viktor would want to teach her how to skate.  That they would spend hours at the rink together, father and daughter, perfecting her program.

 

Ava wondered if there were any realities that she followed in her parent’s footsteps.

 

“What’s wrong, you don’t want to come back?”  Viktor looked crestfallen, and Ava scrambled to resolve the situation.

 

“No, no, it’s not that.  I just… you remind me of my… dad,” she finished lamely.

 

Viktor pressed a finger to his lips.  “Was he also devilishly handsome?”

 

Ava giggled, golden sparkles appearing in the air as she did so (it was one of the beautiful wraith qualities she possessed).

 

His blue eyes reflected the bright gold glitter with interest.

 

“What are you, anyway?”

 

Without a second thought, she whispered, “A wraith.”

 

“What’s that?”

 

Ava was unsure if she should divulge any more information.  This wasn’t like her usual customers.  _ This  _ Viktor might be comatose for a while.  He won’t wake up and forget any time soon.

 

He’ll remember every interaction they have.

 

“It’s… I’m in charge of making sure certain events happen.  One specific event, actually.”

 

Viktor skated closer to her, studying her face curiously.  “What are you doing here, then?”

 

Brushing her long hair back, she whispered, “I’m still trying to figure that out.”

  
  


***

  
  


Ava labeled the orb with comatose Viktor “S-M-146”.  Then, she dove back into that very same world, and appeared in Hasetsu, Japan.

 

Yuuri was sitting on the ledge of a cliff.  Her eyes opened wide as Yuuri launched himself off the edge.

 

“Shit!” Ava screamed, jumping off the ledge after him, floating down until she hit the water, looking around frantically.

 

She could see him struggle, but knew that she couldn’t do anything to help him.

 

“What the hell is this!?” Ava screamed, shaking uncontrollably.  “How come phantoms can affect the real world and we can’t? This is RIDICULOUS!”

 

Yuuri broke the surface then, gasping and spluttering, and started crying, paddling back towards the shore, defeated.

 

Ava watched him crawl onto the sand and pass out from exhaustion, and immediately appeared in his dream.

 

In the dream, Yuuri was in the bottom of a dark well.  She looked down from the top, yelling, “What were you thinking?!”   
  


The well disappeared then, and Yuuri appeared in front of her, looking pale and shaking and cold

 

“Are you an angel?  Am I dead?”

 

Ava twitched.  “No, dumbass, but you tried to kill yourself just now.  What the hell was that?”

 

“My life is over,” the dream around them started to turn into a dark cloud, rain pouring down from the sky.  Yuuri was visibly shrinking before her.

 

“Depression dreams,” Ava said softly, sitting down in front of Yuuri, who looked to be about five.

 

“Yuuri, you feel like your life is over,” Ava whispered carefully, reaching out and taking dream Yuuri’s hand.  He was watching her hopefully. “You can come back from this. Just because you aren’t skating in Worlds doesn’t mean you can’t come back next season.”

 

Yuuri shook his head, arms crossed in front of his stomach like he was trying to protect himself from harm.  “No, Viktor isn’t there. What’s the point of skating if Viktor can’t see me?”

 

Ava couldn’t help but smile, tears forming in her eyes.  “You stupid idiots always love each other, don’t you?”

 

The young Yuuri looked confused, and Ava bit her pink lip, a plan forming in her head.

 

“What if I told you that Viktor could see you skate?  That I had a way of making that happen?”   
  


All at once, sitting where the small Yuuri was was the real, adult Yuuri, who was watching Ava with thinly veiled awe.  “You… he could see me skate?”

 

“Work on it.  Get a routine together.  Then…”

 

“I already have one,” Yuuri said quickly, grabbing Ava’s arm.  “Please, just bring me to him.”

 

Ava couldn’t help but feel a punch of fondness as she blinked into the ice rink that comatose Viktor practiced in.

 

Yuuri caught comatose Viktor’s eyes, looking extremely determined.

 

“Viktor, please watch me!”

 

Viktor had frozen, looking at Ava with a bright smile.  “You brought another visitor! This is the Yuuri we were talking about, right?”

 

Nodding, Ava tugged Viktor’s sleeve.

 

“Let’s get off the ice, Viktor.  He wants to show you something.”

 

They climbed into the stands, and Yuuri breathed heavily, starting a routine.

 

Ava’s gut clenched when she realized…

 

“... Stay Close to Me,” Viktor whispered, hand coming to his mouth, tears forming in his eyes.

 

Yuuri continued, and from seemingly nowhere music started filtering from the ceiling, the Italian echoing around the rink in a ghostly wail.

 

When the Japanese man finished, gasping his breath, Viktor stood up, and squealed, “Yuuri Katsuki!  You are too good. Why weren’t you on the podium with me at the Grand Prix Final?”

 

Suddenly bashful, Yuuri skated over to the two of them, not making eye contact.

 

“I… I get nervous before competitions.  I have pretty serious anxiety.”

 

The Russian man was studying Yuuri carefully, before snapping his fingers and clapping, like he came to a conclusion.

 

“Starting today, I’ll be your coach!”   
  


“What?!” Yuuri and Ava gasped in unison, and Viktor just smiled knowingly.  

 

“I… he won’t remember these dreams,” Ava spluttered, pointing at Yuuri.

 

Viktor just waved her off.  “You can find some way around that, right?”

 

Ignoring how many rules that would be breaking, it also risked Yuuri informing the rest of the world about wraiths, or worse, it risked Yuuri going crazy from being coached by a man who was, by all accounts, brain dead.

 

However, Yuuri didn’t look angry or upset.

 

For the first time since he crawled out of that water, he looked like he had something to look forward to.

 

“Aw, hell,” Ava walked forward hesitantly, pressing her finger to Yuuri’s head, sending him in a blink out of the rink.

 

“Hey!” Viktor gasped, looking around desperately.

 

“He’ll be back,” Ava said, still extremely sure that this would be a bad idea.

 

However, how else was she supposed to get them together in this life?

  
  


***

  
  


When Ava returned to her apartment, she fell onto the couch, very sure that she just made a huge mistake.

 

She pointed to S-M-145 to check on Viktor and how he was handling divorce.  The orb floated to her just as Tubsy tried to jump up and grab it.

 

“Bad cat,” she hissed, before she was standing…

 

No, no, no…

 

Viktor was standing in his apartment in London, sobbing over Faith, who was crumpled on the ground, an empty bottle of pills rolling under the couch.

 

Michael was crying from somewhere in the apartment.

 

Ava shook, visibly alarmed, watching in horror as Viktor picked her body up and screamed in pain.  

 

She whispered quietly, “No, this wasn’t how it was supposed to go…”

 

“What do you mean, ‘supposed to’?”

 

Going stock still, Ava felt a chill rush over her, like a winter storm had settled into her chest.

 

Turning on her heel, she saw Faith’s spirit standing there, darkness starting to creep from the air around her.  Her image was washed out, colors muted, but as the darkness started creeping in it outlined her form in shadow.

 

“Are you the reason that my husband left me?” her voice shook as the darkness fell like ash around her, and her eyes turned black in anger…

 

The darkness reached out of the astral plane, and the entire apartment started shaking.  Viktor gasped and ran to find Michael. Faith’s spirit went to follow him, but Ava put herself between Faith and Viktor’s retreating figure.

 

“Calm down, Faith, I can explain…”

 

“No,” she hissed, darkness pouring out of her, the light in the room disappearing before their eyes, “No explanations.  I want to watch this world  _ burn _ .”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you like this check out my other fics<3


	3. Wherever You Go, I'll Follow

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ava deals with the problem at hand, and makes a terrible mistake

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello, lovelies!
> 
> Thank you to everyone who has been reading this little fledgling fic. I've really enjoyed bringing closure to this story, and hope that you all enjoy what I've got for you<3
> 
> As usual, I do not own Yuri! on Ice

“Think about Michael, Faith…” Ava gasped as the hardwood started to crack underneath them.

 

“What about him?” her snarl was feral, and Ava worried that she was already too far gone.

 

“You… if you burn this world, then he’ll die.”

 

Faith’s face went slack for a moment, before Viktor rushed past them, Michael and diaper bag clutched in hand.

 

“He’s… he’s taking my baby…” whatever sense Ava had managed to recover, Faith lost it in seconds.

 

Ava was blown back suddenly, flying through the wall of the apartment and falling through onto the ground, the sky starting to turn an ugly grey color.  

 

“TATIANA!”   
  
The other wraith appeared next to her in seconds, and she pointed up at the phantom, who was descending upon them.

 

“I have to go get the cleaners,” Tatiana gasped, “Keep her busy.  Don’t let her de-stabilize this world too much!”

 

The other woman was gone in a flash, and Ava stood on the ground as Faith descended towards her, eyes black and soulless.

 

“Faith, think about Michael. You’re going to kill him…”

 

Faith’s skin was turning purple and black, laughing coldly.  The very world around them started shaking uncontrollably. 

 

“If I can’t have him…”

 

A tree nearby cracked in half, and Ava screamed, “That’s like EIGHT different kinds of cliche!”   
  


Ava had to think fast.  This world and everyone in it was about to crumble and die.

 

Then… it occurred to her.  A phantom can destroy a reality if it’s in it for too long… 

 

What if she transported it between realities?  Ones where she couldn’t do her job. Realities where Viktor or Yuuri were dead, or realities in which neither of them existed, or where things hadn’t worked out… she’d visited at least a dozen like that…

 

Gathering up her courage, she ran towards Faith and grabbed her roughly, appearing in a reality in which Yuuri and Viktor both were never born. 

 

They were in the middle of a field, and Faith started screaming, thrashing around and sending her shadows around her.  The grass lit on fire suddenly, and a tornado appeared…

 

“Shit, shit, shit…” Ava touched her again, and they appeared in…

 

...N-M-121-X… the reality where Viktor died and Yuuri never got to meet him, no matter how hard she tried…

 

They were standing in an airfield…

 

...a plane was about to take off…

 

Faith, in a fit of anger, threw her shadows out and tore the plane clean in half.

 

Ava felt her entire body go cold, and she jumped on Faith, sending them spiraling through reality after reality.  

 

After they appeared in a post-apocalyptic world where the Cold War destroyed all of Russia and China, a world where only Yuuri was alive, Faith and her stood on the nuclear wasteland of what was once Moscow.

 

“You ruined my life!” she screeched, “Why did you mess with my life?!”

 

Ava was unbelievably, undeniably, royally pissed off.  Her golden glitter was shaking off of her in waves.

 

“Can you think about anyone but yourself right now?!” Ava screamed, “Is it so wrong for me to want my family to be together?  Does that make me a bad person?” 

 

Angry tears were streaming down her face, and snow started to sprinkle down on both of them.

 

“I’m just one person.  Every time I see my parents get together, I know that some version of me, somewhere gets to grow up loved.   _ Even if _ that person isn’t me.  Is it so terrible that I want that?  Is that selfish of me? Should I be upset that I broke up your marriage?  Or should I be excited because in your world, that version of me gets a big brother to love her, now, too?”

 

The second the snow hit Faith, she hissed, the ground shaking beneath her, clouds swirling above her like a hurricane.

 

In that moment, Tatiana appeared next to Ava, with three other wraiths with gelatinous cubes.  

 

Faith roared as they tackled her to the ground and absorbed her.

 

They appeared back in Ava’s apartment, and she saw tiny black cracks in quite a few of her glowing gold orbs.

 

“You have to fix those, you know,” Tatiana said thoughtfully.  “However, that was quick thinking on your part.”

 

The wraith who had taken Faith plopped the hard black cube next to the other one on Ava’s mantle.

 

She fell to her knees, looking up at the twenty orbs with cracks, and hoped beyond all hope that none of the damage was irreparable.

  
  


***

  
  


Ava went to every other world and was able to stabilize it.  There was minimal lasting damage.

 

Except for one...

 

Ava was standing on the airfield, and saw him, hovering over his body, looking confused.  The other spirits around him were disappearing in a silver mist, but he was too stunned to move.

 

“I’m sorry, daddy,” she whispered, walking delicately towards Yuuri.

 

Yuuri blinked down at her, confused.  He asked to go with the others, but she couldn’t look at him, telling him that it wasn’t time yet. 

 

Ava had caused his death, if indirectly.

 

How was she supposed to come back from this?

 

She dropped his spirit off in the rink that him and Viktor met the first time, and blipped back into her apartment, sobs ripping out of her.

 

“I’m sorry, daddy, I’m sorry…” her whole body was shaking, and she cried openly.  Mhysa rubbed against her lovingly, and she pulled the cat into her lap, rocking back and forth.

 

Eventually, she stood.  She shook as she realized that there was another universe that was cracked.

 

“No, no, no…” her eyes flew open wide, and she disappeared into…

 

The house in Fukuoka was gone.

 

She was standing in a field.

 

“No!  This can’t be happening…” she blipped back in time, trying to find the moment that was cracked, and saw it.  Years before they adopted Ava, the two of them had taken a drive. The crack that the phantom made had veered a truck off course.  It had hit Viktor and Yuuri’s car. Yuuri was crawling to Viktor, trying to get to him, and she fast-forwarded and saw that Yuuri would die, and Viktor would die only a few months later…

 

An idea formed in her mind.  The timing was too odd. These two lost their bodies.  The other two had traumatic brain injuries that destroyed their minds…

 

What if she…

 

It would break every rule.  It would be stupid. It would be selfish.

 

Her alternate self here might not grow up with Yuuri and Viktor, but her alternate self in N-M-121-X could grow up with parents…

 

When going back to the car accident, she saw Yuuri’s spirit, confused above his body, and pressed against his head without letting him see her.

 

“I’m sorry.  I hope you can forgive me,” she whispered, hands shaking as she leaned over Viktor, and entered his mind.

 

They were in his apartment in St. Petersburg.  Viktor was sitting with Makkachin, watching the door, waiting.

 

“He’s going to come soon, Makka, right?”

 

Ava sighed.  Waving her arm, she connected this dream with Yuuri’s, like she’d done with the other comatose Viktor, allowing Yuuri to travel here when he slept.

 

Appearing in N-M-121-X, she stood in Yuuri’s hospital room, watching him sleep.

 

Dr. Nikiforov, the one who would be killed in three months, entered the room.  His fate was set. Some things Ava could change, but she’d tried to save him a thousand times, and it never worked.

 

Maybe, though, she could make it work for the other two.

 

Dr. Nikiforov looked at Yuuri thoughtful, blue eyes piercing.

 

“You know you’re very lucky, sir.  You’re the only survivor. Someone is watching over you,” Viktor squeezed Yuuri’s hand with a tight smile.

 

Mila wandered into the room, and changed Yuuri’s IV.

 

“He’s got some sort of angel,” Mila agreed, but Ava sighed.

 

“I’m no angel.  I’m just a selfish girl with a god complex.”

 

She disappeared from the hospital room in a puff of gold glitter.

  
  


***

  
  


Ava was watching Yuuri and Viktor get married.

 

She forgot which reality.  Honestly, she didn’t care.

 

When they kissed, and everyone whistled and cheered, she felt someone appear behind her.

 

“We’re re-assigning you,” came a voice from behind her.

 

Tatiana was watching Ava with interest, golden eyes sparkling.

 

“To what?”

 

“Something far more important.  This is necessary, but it’s far below your capabilities.”

 

Ava watched Yurio dive away from the bouquet getting thrown out into the crowd, but Otabek jumped up and caught it, grinning devilishly.

 

“I don’t want to.”

 

Tatiana shrugged.  “You don’t get a choice.”

 

“Who is taking over, then?”

 

“We had an idea about that.”

  
  


***

  
  


Ava was sending all of these realities to the skating rink for Viktor and Yuuri to take over.  She’d started her new task, but found that there were a few places that she couldn’t let go of, yet.

 

Ava stood in the room with floating orbs, tracing them between her fingers, watching them with awe and envy.

 

There were so many that had a version of herself that was happy.

 

Why was she the odd one out?  Why was her world the one where she wasn’t adopted?  What kind of fate is that?

 

Hesitantly, she floated her own reality orb to her.  It was not shining and sprinkling gold flakes. Instead, it had a dull sheen, like frosted golden glass.  When she fell in, she immediately was at the Grand Prix Final where Yuuri epically failed, before he ran home to Hasetsu.

 

The one that Viktor competed against Yuuri with “Stay Close to Me”.

 

At this point, Viktor was just warming up before his short program, going through stretches and practicing jumps...

 

Or, at least, that was what was  _ supposed  _ to happen.

 

Instead, Ava was watching Viktor perform the beginning of his routine, and a series of popping sounds went off.

 

“Shit,” Ava searched around her wildly, and saw a group of people wander in with submachine guns.

 

“Shit, shit shit, no…” Ava felt panic rise in her as they waved the guns around, in all black.  Viktor stopped his routine and visibly paled. Quite a few people ran.

 

This must be why she wasn’t adopted.  In her universe, Viktor and Yuuri must die here!

 

Ava looked around and found Yuuri, who was doing something very unexpected, and was going directly for Viktor on the ice.

 

When Yuuri got to Viktor, he tugged on the other’s sleeve relentlessly.  “You have to move!”

 

Viktor looked down in shock.  Then, they started skating away from the gunmen, who were starting to shoot aimlessly into the crowd.

 

Possessed, Ava followed the version of Yuuri and Viktor from her world.  For once in this odd afterlife, she had no idea what was going to happen.

 

They both discarded their skates and sprinted for the conference rooms, ducking into one together.

 

Breathing deeply, Viktor whispered, “Yuuri, right?”

 

Chuckling breathlessly, Yuuri nodded.  “You’re Viktor Nikiforov.”

 

The older man brushed his own silver hair back, blue eyes blown open wide.  The room was eerily well lit, and they could hear more gunfire outside.

 

“I think I owe you my life, Yuuri Katsuki.”

 

Yuuri turned a violent shade of red, rubbing the back of his neck.  “I just… well since we’re going to probably die and all…”

 

The older man cocked his head to the side in curiosity.

 

Yuuri was trying to pick up the courage to say what he intended to.  “I’m kind of a big fan. I’ve always wanted to skate the same ice as you.  If they’d killed you before I got to do that, I would be extremely disappointed.”

 

Viktor’s face went slack with shock, as Yuuri thought over what he just said.

 

“Wait, that sounds so bad!  No, I just can’t imagine my life without you…”

 

A small, playful smile appeared on Viktor’s lips.  “You, Yuuri Katsuki, are adorable.”

 

Yuuri must have imploded from embarrassment, because there was no way it was healthy to turn that shade of red.

 

The gunshots had gotten closer.

 

Yuuri’s hands started shaking, his breathing was becoming labored.  

 

They were silent as Yuuri descended slowly but surely into a panic attack.

 

“Viktor, are we going to die?”

 

Blinking for a second, Ava saw a few gears turn in Viktor’s head, before he responded, “No, we don’t die today.  That would be crazy. We have to skate the same ice, right?”

 

“Right,” Yuuri shakily agreed, eyes becoming unfocused.

 

“Hey, look at me, alright?” Viktor tilted Yuuri’s face up to him, and did his best to smile.  “Has anyone told you that you are beautiful, Yuuri Katsuki?”

 

It had the desired effect.  Yuuri looked completely flustered and distracted. 

 

“Don’t you mean handsome…” he muttered, shoulder slumping when he realized what he had said.

 

Viktor Nikiforov laughed.  “You’re handsome, too, but beauty isn’t just for girls.  It lies in something that transcends the physical body, no?  You’re beautiful because you saved me,  _ and  _ because you’re attractive.”

 

The gunshots were getting even louder, and Yuuri looked around frantically. 

 

“We don’t die today,” he insisted angrily, pulling Viktor to duck underneath one of the press tables, where the table cloth fell to the floor.

 

Ava crawled under, too, completely enraptured.

 

The two of them huddled back to back, breathing heavily.

 

“Hey, Viktor?”

 

“Yeah?”

 

Yuuri gulped.  “You know, you’re the reason I got into skating.”

 

The Russian started, but then his face contorted.  Now that he wasn’t saving face for Yuuri, his eyes started misting up, full of emotion.

 

“I’m so happy I could…”

 

A loud bang, of the door being opened.

 

Heavy boots falling on the wooden floor.

 

Two men breathing rapidly, fingers finding each other in the dark.

 

A table cloth a little out of place.

 

When Ava saw all this, her heart (despite being dead) was pounding.  She crawled out from under the table, panicking.

 

She couldn’t affect the waking world.  No one was asleep.

 

She could go back and fix it, but then she wouldn’t die at seventeen and become a wraith, so who would fix it?

 

It would create a time paradox, one where the multiverse would collapse.

 

She checked out the gunmen as the circled the room looking for stragglers.  She was trying to find some identifying marker, some way to distinguish them.  Why did this happen, in this universe? Why did this only happen here?

 

Unfortunately, when they found Yuuri and Viktor, she had found no pertinent information.

 

Tic, toc.

 

Her fear was palpable in the air.  She starting shaking, golden sparkles blending together with ash as…

 

...as an invisible force pushed the gunmen back from the table, and they were stunned, sprinting from the room.

 

Yuuri and Viktor crawled out from under the table, faces ashen and hands still tangled together.

 

As Ava calmed herself down at the sight of her parents, her golden sparkles returned, but she knew that she’s done something irreparable.  For a second, she’d lost herself. For a second, she had made a rash decisions that changed everything.

 

“Well, fuck,” she hissed.

  
  


***

  
  


Mhysa and Tubsy were watching Ava pace around the room frantically, gold sparkles dimming to ash and then back to glittering gold seconds later.  Her fingers were shaking and gathered together in fists on either side of her body.

 

Suddenly, then, Viktor and Yuuri appeared in the apartment as wraiths, gold eyes widened in shock.

 

“What did you do?!” Yuuri gasped, running to the orb she’d just left.  Ava felt her knees buckle as her eyes switched rapidly from gold to black.  Viktor’s blue eyes widened and he dove to cradle her in his arms, so tiny and frail looking like this.

 

“I couldn’t… I’m sorry,” she felt tears gather around her, and snow started to drift from the ceiling, her sadness becoming an unshakable chill.

 

She looked down at her hands, suddenly, seeing them start to fade, like she was dissolving into the air.

 

Viktor brought her closer to his chest, looking up at Yuuri in panic.  “Yuuri, we need to do something!”

 

Tears started to fall from Yuuri’s eyes too as he cradled the world sphere that had started to glow, face completely overtaken by the beauty of the sight.

 

“Viktor, she…”

 

Another wraith appeared suddenly, and Viktor clutched Ava’s disappearing figure to him harder, Yuuri stepping in front of them defensively. 

 

Tatiana was watching them with disdain.  “She’s about to turn. When she does she’ll tear you to pieces, so I suggest you leave her there and get out.”

 

Yuuri didn’t move.  “You’re not getting to her.”

 

Ava felt her feet starting to disappear, and she realized wildly that she should be turning to ash and becoming more powerful if she was turning into a phantom.

 

“Dad…” she sobbed out suddenly, and in a blink she was gone.

  
  


***

  
  


Ava woke up to the smell of pancakes.

 

She sat up quickly, wide eyes gazing around her room in panic.

 

Wait, her room?

 

Two sets of memories were warring inside of her, one of thousands of years of being a mystical being and another set.  This other set was much less complicated, and featured her being adopted by Yuuri and Viktor when she was a baby. They raised her as their daughter.  Viktor usually made pancakes on Sunday mornings. As she sat up, she saw that she had two cats lounging with her in her room, each of them sprawled out and sleeping soundly.

 

A knock came at her door, and Yuuri peeked inside, smiling.  “Your father is making pancakes, which means that he’ll burn one or two and then beg me to do it, so do you want to come down and watch him flounder?”

 

Her chest hurt, and she thought about Ockham's razor.  The concept was simple: when confronted with two possibilities, the one that is simplest tends to be the correct one.  Which was more likely? That Ava had a complicated dream full of magic and wraiths and alternate realities, or that she was a magical being that had been transported back into her original reality?

 

She jumped out of bed, smiling widely.  “I bet he’ll try to make three pancakes.”

  
  


***

  
  


Viktor and Yuuri watched themselves make pancakes with Ava, the Ava from this reality, the one that changed her fate.  

 

“None of her work has been undone yet, miraculously,” Yuuri said softly, watching the girl’s hazel eyes sparkle with a laugh.   

 

Viktor wound his hand into Yuuri’s, squeezing it reassuringly.  “She’s been working hard for thousands of years. She earned this.”

 

They watched the family giggle and goof and laugh on the lazy and calm Sunday morning.

 

“If any of it starts to come apart, we’ll take care of it,” Yuuri said with determination, and they disappeared in a burst of glittering light.

 

Ava turned to see the golden sparkling of the air, biting her lip.

 

“Are you alright, honey?”

 

“Yeah,” she turned back around, deciding that it was just a trick of the light.  “I’m perfect.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all again<3
> 
> If you like this, check out my other YOI fics! I've also got some fun Voltron ones going on. Feel free to swing by, I've got a wide selection to choose from

**Author's Note:**

> This story will be told in three parts, as always!
> 
> If you like this, check out my other fics! I've got quite a few YOI ones, including long-running series, and one shots, and have been recently writing a lot for Voltron. 
> 
> Until next time, loves<3


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